Key Points
- Greta Thunberg, others intercepted on Gaza aid flotilla
- ADF and specialists search for missing South Australian boy
- Mary Fowler resigns with Manchester United
TRANSCRIPT
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has been taken by Israeli forces after the interception of vessels from the Gaza aid flotilla.
In a social media post on X, Israel’s Foreign Ministry has said several vessels of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla were safely stopped and their passengers transferred to an Israeli port.
They have also announced that Greta and her friends are safe and healthy.
The Global Sumud Flotilla consists of more than 40 civilian boats carrying about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.
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The mother of an Australian onboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla says she's concerned for her daughter's welfare.
Julie Webb-Pullman - the mother of Bianca - says her daughter threw her phone overboard, but the family has continued to receive updates from the flotilla's family liaison.
She has called the Australian government's response "reprehensible".
Meanwhile Juliet Lamont, another Australian in the flotilla, has shared with SBS [[World News]] a clip from one of the boats.
"They're still pursuing us. It doesn't really feel like there's any way out of this. We can probably just keep going we're 50 nautical miles from Gaza we're going to try and get back into the pack and not be so vulnerable on our own. But yeah that was a really really close call."
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Defence troops have joined the outback search for a four-year-old boy who vanished from a regional sheep property in South Australia.
Police Superintendent Mark Syrus says 48 personnel from the ADF are now part of a large group of searchers, including aircraft, mounted operations and search dogs - and an Indigenous tracker.
"We actually got the services of a specialist person in tracking. He's got a very close connection with the country. And so he came up yesterday afternoon and did a search of the area. He's back in the field now and just having a drive around, and assisting in the search efforts."
The only trace found of the preschooler so far has been a tiny footprint in the dirt, approximately 500 metres from the family homestead.
Four-year-old August, known as Gus, disappeared from his family's sheep station in the remote South Australian mid-north on Saturday afternoon.
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Triple-murderer Erin Patterson has formally indicated she will appeal her convictions, after she was found guilty of serving a deadly mushroom lunch.
Patterson's appeal period was due to expire just before midnight on Monday, but her new barrister Richard Edney has today applied for an extension in the Victorian Supreme Court.
Justice Christopher Beale has granted that application.
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The Greens have urged the government to address property prices by removing tax incentives for investors.
There has been a renewed focus on housing affordability with the start of the government's five percent deposit scheme on October one, with some commentators speculating the policy could inflate prices even higher.
Economists like the CBA's Harry Ottley has argued the impact would be more acute on the lower end of the market, where the scheme is targeted.
The Greens' finance spokesperson, Barbara Pocock, says under the new scheme, first home buyers still face an uneven playing field.
"We know that Labor's policy will increase the price of housing. It'll make it harder for first home buyers to get into the market. It will saddle them with enormous levels of debt, and it will increase the profits of banks."
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As many as 1,500 new homes, including 180 build-to-rent apartments for essential workers, will be built on a former Sydney Metro construction site on Sydney’s north shore.
It comes as New South Wales' government developer, Landcom, has planned to build the site on Mowbray Road in Chatswood.
New South Wales Premier, Chris Minns, says essential workers deserve an affordable place to live near their job and community.
"We need to make and pull every lever that we possibly can to both encourage people to live and work in communities like here in the North Shore and northern beaches but also entice people into important jobs in the New South Wales public service."
He says more needs to be done as well on the housing side and the wages and condition side.
As part of the development plan, an old boys’ boarding school will be also repurposed into a community space.
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And moving on to sport, Matildas star Mary Fowler has signed a new one-year contract extension until 2027 to stay with Manchester City.
The 22-year-old says the club - which she's been at since 2022 - feels like home and has helped her flourish.
Fowler is still recovering from a knee injury in April and hopes to be fit for the Asian Cup in March.
But her status as one of the best players in the world has been highlighted by selection in the Professional Footballer's Australia Women's Super League Team of the Year.
